All Rise...

The Charge

Finding a good dentist can be hard…making him love you can be
murder.

The Case

There are few things more depressing in the life of a film reviewer than
seeing a good idea marred by poor execution. It's doubly depressing when the
feature is an independent film and obviously a labor of love. Oral
Fixation is just such a disappointment, a flick with a wicked little premise
that can't decide if it's a black-comedy gorefest or a taut psychological
thriller.

Oral Fixation starts with a great idea: Rachel (Emily Parker,
Scalp) is so in love with her dentist (Kerry Aissa) that she's willing to
mutilate herself in order to see him. His wife (Aidan Sullivan), gets suspicious
as our "heroine's" attentions become more ardent (and she becomes more
willing to get violent to get her ideal man). Eventually husband and wife must
fight back together against this crazy stalker.

Oral Fixation has all the hallmarks of a great black comedy: actors
willing to go the distance, a wickedly nasty narrative idea, lots of excuses to
show the darker impulses behind seemingly innocent activities (like going to the
dentist). Oral Fixation also has all the necessary parts to be an
effective psychological killer. We've got a bubbly, seemingly nice woman who
hides her obsessive tendencies well. We've got a good-looking professional
family man with stable marriage just ripe for growing suspicion and intrigue.
Mixing in the dental angle provides numerous opportunities for innocent
encounters between Rachel and her dream dentist to go terribly, terribly
wrong.

The problem is that Oral Fixation never settles on which category it
wants to fall into. It's not nearly realistic enough to be an effective
psychological thriller, and not over the top enough to stand with the top tier
of black/horror comedies. Any shot at psychological realism goes immediately out
the window. The film starts from Rachel's point of view as she narrates her love
of Dr. Paul. She's already obviously insane, and the film misses a big
opportunity by starting with her so completely off her rocker. Because we know
she's completely insane, there's very little tension in the rest of the film,
especially when it comes to the relationship between Paul and his wife. The
audience knows completely that Paul is being stalked and has done nothing to
encourage Rachel's behavior, which makes Paul's wife look bad for suspecting him
at all. Even the generally odious Obsessed got that part right. If the
audience doesn't suspect the husband is at least flattered, if not outright
encouraging of the woman's affections, most of the thrill in the film is lost.
The final nail in the realism coffin is hammered by the "explanation"
for Rachel's condition. Apparently her father was a mad scientist who rewired
her brain to feel pain as pleasure while fixating on anyone who looks like her
crazy father. Paul is the object of Rachel's affection purely because he
resembles her father.

This scene is so patently ridiculous that it's almost laughable. The film,
however, fails to capitalize on its more ridiculous aspects. Instead, this
scene, like so many others is played just straight enough to look inept rather
than funny. A little wiggle room either way and we could have laughed with the
actors at the silliness or laughed at them for taking the material seriously. As
it is the film seems ambivalent towards its subject matter. That same
ambivalence extends to the violence as well. The film obviously wants to paint a
portrait of a crazy woman who revels in pain, but it generally fails to give the
audience the complete picture. Some scenes, like when Rachel runs a kitchen
knife between her toes while talking to Paul or pulls a tooth out as an excuse
to see him, have a certain squirm-inducing charm. However, for a film about a
dentist there is a pathetic lack of unnerving scenes or gore. Again, if the film
had started us off with Rachel being relatively normal, building up to her
insanity, there would have been numerous opportunities to freak the audience
out. As it is, the few scenes of horror don't seem to belong.

For an independently produced low-budget picture Oral Fixation gets a
fine DVD release. The film has a slight digital patina in the transfer, but it's
never really distracting. The audio does a fine job with the dialogue and music,
although it's nothing special. Extras include a commentary with the film's
director where he shares the trials and tribulations of low-budget film making
and the rocky road Oral Fixation had to release. There's also a short
behind-the-scenes featurette that goes back to the film's locations two years
later which gives the director a chance to talk about them in relation to the
film.

There are far worse films out there than Oral Fixation, but that's
not enough to recommend it to most. The premise is delightfully creepy, and
those with a serious fear of the dentist might find this one scary enough to
warrant a watch, but most viewers should find something else to do with their
time.